ABSTRACT
Forensic anthropology is a young discipline that has its roots in biological anthropology. ‹e establishment of forensic anthropology in the United States can be traced back to Ales Hrdlicka working at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) (Ubelaker 1999). At the time Hrdlicka worked at the NMNH, the FBI headquarters was located across the street, and Hrdlicka consulted on a variety of medicolegal cases (Ubelaker 1999). Forensic anthropology has changed considerably since its beginnings in Washington D.C. Dirkmaat et al. (2008) suggested that the incorporation of forensic archaeology, forensic taphonomy, forensic trauma analysis, and the widespread use of quantitative methods has created a paradigm shi„ within the eld. Early practitioners drew from their general knowledge of human skeletal variation in past and present populations to provide law enforcement with information about the biological pro le. Today, however, forensic anthropologists generate original research geared toward a forensic application. Forensic anthropologists may focus their research eœorts and expertise in any number of areas within the eld (i.e., biological pro le, human decomposition, and skeletal trauma). Even with this paradigm shi„, the biological pro le (estimation of ancestry, sex, age, and stature) is still a key element of the forensic anthropological assessment of remains and usually the one of the rst topics learned by students in a forensic anthropology course (Box 11.1).
